On the life-history of spirillum / by Patrick Geddes and J. Cossar Ewart ; communicated by Professor Huxley.

  • Geddes, Patrick, 1854-1932.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the life-history of spirillum / by Patrick Geddes and J. Cossar Ewart ; communicated by Professor Huxley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    5/16
    u V?* ^ v On the Life-History^By Patrick Geddes and J. Cossar Ewart, Mi). Edin., University College, London. Communicated by Professor Huxley, Sec. R.S. Received June 20, 1878. [Plates 11, 12.] Notwithstanding the numerous and fruitful researches which have been recently made into the life-history of Bacteria, our knowledge of the common and interesting curved and spiral forms—the Vibrio* and Spirillum of Ehrenberg—has made little or no advance since his time, neither embryonic nor reproductive forms having ever been observed ; while even the zoogloea phase, so characteristic of Bacterium and Bacillus, has only once been mentioned,! and then in a different form. A fresh-water aquarium, which has been stagnating since last summer in the Physiological Laboratory of University College, con- tained in winter vast numbers of ordinary motile Spirillum. On recently re-examining the water, one zoogloea film after another having in the meantime formed on the surface, thickened, broken, and sunk, we found that these motile forms had almost disappeared, while the films consisted almost entirely of resting Spirillum in a gelatinous- looking matrix, similar to that of Bacterium and Bacillus. Among these were two or three apparently distinct kinds of filaments, some resting and colourless, others motile, and filled with highly refracting bright yellowish-brown spheres. Such a field is represented in fig. 1. The glcea had, even to the naked eye, a brownish tint, which under the microscope was distinctly traceable to the Spirilla, the matrix being also faintly tinged. When a fragment was mounted, water very rapidly revived the perfectly quiescent organisms at the torn edges. These, after some efforts, succeeded in disengaging them- selves, and in a few seconds were darting to and fro, fully motile. The rapidity and extent of this change from the resting to the motile condition, which we have witnessed again and again, was of extra- ordinary interest and beauty. When crowded into a narrow space, the motile Spirilla showed their bright brown madder tint very intensely—a single one, unless very carefully examined, appearing colourless (fig. 1). The resting Spirilla are of very various shapes, some singly bent, others slightly curved at one or both ends, and others coiled like corkscrews of two or more turns (fig. 1). We were much astonished * Wc are very strongly of the opinion that the forms described by various authors as Vibrio are merely either—(1.) Zigzag dividing Bacillus; (2.) Slightly waved Bacillus; or (3.) Undeveloped Spirillum, and hence that Vibrio should no longer be used as a generic term, t Lankester, “ Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci.,” vol. xiii, p. 424.